Why the fuck would the beta authorities want these photographs?
Gray wondered if they had figured out that he was a leader among the alphas here. Conceivably, that might be reason enough for the authorities to take an interest in him, but if that were the case, why wouldn't they send a couple of agents to talk to him at the roadhouse? It was neutral territory. Beta merchants made regular visits, and local cops occasionally came by looking for information about crimes committed near the border. There was no reason to put together a whole covert operation to take surveillance photos of him while he…wait.
Gray froze after flipping to the next picture, fury making his blood run hot as bubbling tar.
On the screen was a picture of him by the hot spring. In the next, he was kicking off his shoes. In the next, pulling off his shirt…in the next, his pants. Yep, standing there buck naked in clear view of her telephoto lens.
"Why the fuck did you take pictures of me naked?"
The thick material covering her mouth was sucked in by her gasp. "Oh, shit, I forgot about those. I'm sorry."
She reached for the camera, but Gray held it out of her grasp. "You're sorry? Sorry has nothing to do with this, lady. Who told you to take these and why?"
"I told you I don't know," she said, her voice cracking. "You have to believe me."
Gray couldn't remember the last time he'd felt rage as pure and focused as now—and he didn't like it. He was known for keeping a cool head, for reserving judgment until he had the facts. He always stepped up to mediate arguments between his brothers. He was the one they turned to for an unbiased opinion.
But he was still an alpha. He still ran on testosterone and sheer will, and his boundaries were as important to him as to any of his brothers. In fact, he'd been ready to slaughter anyone who tried to cross them.
So why didn't he just rip out this woman's throat and be done with her?
Maybe…maybe it was because of the honesty in her voice, faint but unmistakable. Maybe it was because of the desperation reflected in her eyes.
It wasn't that Gray believed her ridiculous story, which was too absurd to take at face value.
It was that he couldn't be sure.
And that was intolerable. As an alpha, he depended on his senses to guide him, but he couldn't trust them now. And he wasn't about to be led by his emotions like some beta whiner.
There was something else. Despite the beta belief that alphas were lawless animals driven only by instinct, Gray had principles. And among them was not slaughtering a woman without being damn sure she was guilty.
Still holding the camera in one hand, Gray hoisted the woman up over his shoulder with the other, causing her to let out a small shriek.
"What are you doing?" she yelped. "Where are you taking me?"
"To find out what the fuck is really going on here."
Chapter Four
Olivia's stomach churned as the alpha carried her through the dense forest. No doubt some of the nausea came from the hard shoulder pounding into her stomach with every swift step, but that was only part of the story. The real reason she was about to lose that morning's half-digested protein bar was good old-fashioned fear.
She wasn't a stranger to the emotion. Working with animals had given Olivia plenty of opportunities to experience fear.
The rattle of a snake's tail at the heel of her boot or an unexpected rustle in the tall grass of the Serengeti set off a primitive response. Fight or flight; run or start throwing punches. It was the kind of fear that demanded immediate action.
But this fear…this was different. This was dread.
And the dread that had taken over her mind and body was the opposite of active. It was a heavy weight strapped between her shoulder blades. It was quicksand sucking at her feet. And the worst part was that there wasn't a damn thing that she could do about it. At least when Olivia was being charged by an angry rhino or menaced by a gang of chimpanzees, she could use her wits and training to escape.
But now? She was slung ass-in-the-air over the shoulder of an angry alpha, her face bumping against his rock-hard back with every step, and there was not one thing she could do about it.
As he carried her through the dense forest in the direction of his cabin, she began to feel dizzy on top of everything else. The alpha's strides were at least twice as long as those of an ordinary beta, so her view of the forest floor was little more than a blur.
But just when Olivia thought she was about to lose control of her guts, the alpha shrugged her off, and she fell down hard on her ass. Wherever he'd been headed, they had arrived.
Taking a few deep breaths to settle her stomach, Olivia looked around. Spotting tendrils of steam rising from a rocky outcropping, she realized exactly where she was—the hot spring up the slope from the cabin where the alpha bathed every afternoon.
She ought to recognize it since she'd captured dozens of photographs of the alpha, buck naked and dripping wet, against that backdrop.
Shit.
Had he dragged her all the way here just to punish her at the scene of her crime? Maybe he planned to drown her in the hot pool or bash her head against the rocky basin. Maybe photographing him naked was a greater insult than she'd imagined.
After all, Olivia knew very little about alphas beyond the crash course her handlers had given her—information that now seemed suspect, given that they'd also assured her there was no way he'd ever know she was nearby.
Despite watching him for two days in a row, the most she could say for certain was that he was quiet, left-handed, and liked to drink his coffee outside in the morning.
On the other hand, if he'd wanted her dead, he could have done it back at her campsite. During her many hours of observation, Olivia had noticed a certain efficiency to the alpha's movements, an economy and precision in the way he conducted himself. No matter what task held his attention, he was methodical, never wasteful.
He wasn't the kind of man who'd haul a woman half a mile over difficult terrain if he didn't have to.
The thought wasn't much comfort. The alpha might not be about to kill her, but the fact that he'd brought her this far meant that he was planning something.
The unknown was so much more terrifying than a threat she could see. But the good news was that Olivia didn't have to wait long to find out what it was.
"Take off the suit." The alpha leaned against a wall of solid rock to watch, his expression flat.
Olivia looked down at the suit that was supposed to keep alphas at bay. Fat lot of good the damn thing had done—it was obviously defective. "Why?"
The alpha's mouth tightened. "Because I fucking told you to."
It wasn't much of a reason, but she didn’t have a choice. Her only solace was that he sounded no more thrilled by the idea than she was.
She reached behind her back, trying to reach the zipper that had been secured by the agent who had dropped her off days ago. Unfortunately, her hands were trembling so hard that she couldn't seem to grasp the zipper's tab.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled after several unsuccessful attempts. "I'm trying, I swear."
The alpha rolled his eyes and yanked Olivia forcefully to her feet, turning her so that she faced away from him. She felt a hard tug, and the zipper separated to allow a cool rush of fresh air into the suit, the first relief her skin had felt in days.
The alpha stepped back and repeated his command, his voice testy.
"Now, take that damn thing off."
Olivia didn't dare argue. She peeled off the hood, then pulled down the sleeves. The strange material crackled stiffly as she shimmied out of it and let it fall to the ground.
Olivia was grateful that the suit was roomy enough to accommodate a thin tank top and cotton boxers underneath, the underwear she'd determined was most comfortable for long-haul assignments spent in a small tent. But it wasn't exactly suitable for public display. Her subjects generally didn't care if she wore a bra or preferred shorts over thongs, but revealing them to the alpha wasn't somet
hing that Olivia relished doing.
"Okay," she said after the alpha had been staring at her for an uncomfortably long time. "I took off the suit, just like you asked. Now what?"
The alpha seemed in no rush to respond. He ignored her, taking deep breaths—trying to smell her again, no doubt—before his scowl intensified. "What kind of scent blocker are you wearing?"
Olivia was confounded by the question. Hadn't she made it clear that she knew nothing about the technology? "I really have no idea. Just something they sprayed all over me."
The alpha's eyes narrowed as he gave a skeptical growl. "Who created it? This Alpha Control Division of yours? The army? Someone in the private sector?"
All Olivia could do was hold her hands up in defeat. How could she convince him that, until he'd shoved that badge in front of her face, Olivia didn't even know such a thing existed? "I already told you, I don't know. And I don't have anything to do with Alpha Control!"
"Whatever lab it came from, they did a hell of a job," he growled, ignoring her denials. "Even without that suit, I can't get a good enough read on your scent to tell if you're lying or telling the truth."
"It's the truth, I swear to God."
"I trust my senses over your God," the alpha retorted disdainfully. "You can save your breath until you get in that water and scrub that shit off you. Then I'll know exactly how much bullshit you've been feeding me."
"Wait," Olivia said, trying to take in what he'd just told her. "You're telling me that you can smell the difference between—between a lie and the truth? How is that possible?"
"I'm the one asking questions here," he snapped. "If you want to live long enough to find out, get in the water and start scrubbing."
Right.
Olivia clamped her mouth shut as she slunk to the edge of the basin, giving him a wide berth and lowering herself into the steaming water. There would be time enough to indulge her curiosity after she survived this.
If she survived this.
She couldn't hold back a sigh as she sank into the warm, steaming water. It felt incredible, immediately starting to release her tension and carry it away in the bubbles. It didn't quite make her forget the threat of being squashed like a bug…but it came close.
Olivia was accustomed to going days and even weeks in the field without bathing, but this dip in a hot spring was better than every solar-heated campsite shower she'd ever taken put together. Hell, it was better than most of the sexual encounters she'd ever had.
The water wasn't just warm. It was fragrant and saturated with the salts and minerals that Olivia was used to paying premium bucks for in the fancy bath shop near her house. She let her eyelids drift shut, ignoring for a moment the murderous alpha standing over her. If she concentrated hard enough, maybe she could convince herself this was one of those luxurious wine-country spas she'd dreamed of visiting.
Something splashed into the water inches away, and Olivia's eyes snapped open. The alpha had tossed her a bar of soap—the same one he brought with him every day for his own bath.
"Wash that shit off," he commanded.
Olivia grabbed the soap and did as he said, trying to ignore his eyes on her as she rubbed it all over her arms and chest, then her belly and legs.
"Do your face and hair," he ordered her impatiently.
She complied, whipping up a lather between her hands before rubbing it all over her head. But when she'd finished rinsing it out, the alpha still didn't seem satisfied. If anything, his irritation seemed to have intensified.
"Better?" Olivia asked.
"I can smell your scent now if that's what you mean."
It still struck her as weird, but if he really could tell the difference between truth and deception by scent alone, then she had nothing to worry about. "So, go ahead and ask your questions again."
"You don't need to say a damn thing," the alpha muttered. "I can tell without asking that you're telling the truth."
Oh, thank God.
But wait. If he knew that she wasn't a spy, that she had no plans or means to harm him, why was he still so furious?
Olivia was genuinely curious—but her survival instinct took over, urging her to leave while she could.
"Can I go?" she asked, already inching toward the mossy edge of the basin.
"Go?" The alpha laughed darkly, a sound that sent a chill through her bones despite the lovely warmth of the water. "No, you aren't going anywhere."
Olivia's heart sank. She clambered out of the basin, water running in warm rivulets down her body and puddling on the sun-warmed rock beneath her bare feet. Her sodden clothes clung to her, the chill in the autumn air raising goosebumps.
"I did what you said," she pleaded. "I told you the truth. I'm not with the government. I didn't ask to come here. I had to do it to protect myself and my family."
The alpha didn't even blink. His face was a stone wall of indifference, giving away no emotion at all. "I know. And that's why I'm not going to kill you."
Olivia gaped at him. So he wasn't going to kill her—that was all he had to say? He seemed to expect her to be grateful, which didn't make any sense.
Maybe alphas just thought differently. Maybe if she understood his logic, she could reason with him. "But why keep me here? You obviously don't want me here, so why not let me go?"
The alpha crossed his arms in front of his broad chest, making him loom even larger over her. "Two reasons. First, those men who dropped you off here are bound to come back for you."
"Which is exactly why I shouldn't be here! Besides, it's not like they'll know I left."
"Maybe…maybe not."
"What's the second reason?"
The alpha's brow lowered menacingly. "You might not have meant to, but you still trespassed on my property, and you must be punished."
"No," Olivia protested, feeling desperation rise in her again. She'd made many mistakes, but trespassing was definitely not one of them. Even she knew better than to cross onto an alpha's cherished land. "It isn't trespassing if you carried me over your property line yourself."
"What the hell are you talking about? By your own admission, you've been camped out on my land for three days now."
"No, I wasn't." Olivia shook her head. "They were very clear that I was set up just outside your…"
Oh shit.
Olivia's chest tightened with fear as she realized she couldn't trust anything her handlers said. These were the same people who'd created a fake badge that said she'd worked for the government, after all—the people who had threatened her family's lives. There was no reason to believe that anyone who had so little regard for her would be honest about anything.
"I didn't know," she pleaded.
Something passed over his face, a fleeting emotion in his arresting violet gaze, but then the hardness returned. "It doesn't matter. There's only one law up here, and you broke it."
Oh, for God's sake. Something inside Olivia snapped. "Well, it's a stupid law."
Almost as stupid as saying that out loud.
The alpha's stony glare turned to ice. He closed the distance between them, menace radiating out from every inch of him. Olivia couldn't help but wonder if he'd reconsidered his decision not to kill her.
"An alpha's property is sacred," he growled. "You may not understand that now, but I promise you that by the time this is over, you will."
"No. Leave me alone." Her fear expanded throughout her body. She held her arms up in a defensive posture over her neck and face.
"Stop being so fucking dramatic," the alpha growled before wrapping both hands around her wrists and forcing them back down to her sides.
"I'm not...not..."
The words came out with great difficulty, as her thoughts began to blur, her vision darkening at the edges. At the same time, her terror faded, replaced with a blurry warmth that spread through her veins. Something strange was happening. Something…not entirely unpleasant.
Strike that.
Whatever was taking over her body, i
t was downright pleasurable. It made no sense, but if Olivia couldn't feel the smooth stone beneath her feet or her nipples tightening as the crisp wind blew against her damp tank top, she would have sworn that she still floating in the hot spring. Every cell of her body felt warm and lush and absolutely perfect.
The alpha abruptly released her, but for some reason, Olivia didn't want him to. Without thinking, she started to trace her fingertips over his sun-burnished forearms, tickling the fine dark hairs. But it wasn't enough.
She needed to feel more. So much more. Every part of his body. Every inch. She wanted to touch with her fingers and taste with her mouth. She wanted…she wanted…
All of him.
Before she knew what she was doing, she had moved closer until her damp body was pressed against his. Her skin drank in the reassuring heat radiating off his body.
From a great distance, the thoughts she'd discarded spun and swirled. For the life of her, Olivia couldn't remember why she had been fighting so hard. She didn't want to leave. Why would she? She was exactly where she needed to be.
A low, loud growl broke through her musing, and she vaguely realized that it was the alpha. She let her gaze drift dreamily up and was surprised to find him scowling at her. What could he possibly be upset about when everything was so obviously perfect?
"Fuck," he spat. "Of course those beta bastards would send a damn omega."
Chapter Five
Something was wrong.
The thought entered Gray's head just as an unstoppable force of need roared into his veins. Even though the pure sexual desire pulsing inside him with every beat of his heart was impossible to ignore, it hadn't managed to swallow all conscious thought.
Not yet, at any rate.
Gray: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 3
